The present invention relates to wooden structures and hinged metal web connectors for joining wooden members to form the wooden structures such as in the construction of wooden truss or joist assemblies for enabling such wooden structures to be used to support structural loads.
In constructing various types of wooden truss assemblies, including both certain types of roof trusses and floor joists, it has been common to use large wooden structural members, e.g. wooden members having a width of at least 10 inches. Such large wooden members, however, are becoming increasingly difficult to find and as a result having increased tremendously in cost. Consequently, various alternatives have been sought to enable the construction of such trusses employing more commonly available wooden members such as 2.times.4 wooden strips. In seeking to find such alternatives, there have been two primary criteria that had to be met. First, the alternative devices had to be able to withstand large compressive loads so that the trusses that were constructed could be used for bearing substantial loads. Secondly, it was considered desirable to develop alternative devices that could be prefabricated at a manufacturing plant and then easily shipped to a building site without a high degree of risk of incurring damage to the truss structure.
One type of device that has been developed for prefabricating such structural trusses is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 337,671 filed Jan. 7, 1982, commonly assigned, which application is incorporated herein by reference.
Various types of truss assemblies are also described in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 2,803,317 to Henderson; 3,152,347 to Williams; 3,729,877 to Hall; 3,783,573 to Vaughan; 3,823,522 to Jureit et al; 4,089,148 to Oehmsen et al; and 4,126,974 to Hardin. Each of these patents illustrates a hinged and/or pivoted truss assembly. In general, the references describe elongated members that are interconnected by a hinged member located at the ends of the elongated members. Of these patents only one, the Jureit et al patent, illustrates any hinged members having teeth struck out from the plates. In the Jureit et al patent, however, the two hinged members are used so as to enable two elongated wooden members to be hinged with respect to each other.
Several of the other patents such as the Henderson patent and the Hall patent illustrate hinged metal members for interconnecting elongated truss or frame members. In addition, several of these patents, particularly the Williams, Hall, Vaughan and Hardin patents, disclose collapsible or foldable connector members which enable the connector assembly to be more easily shipped. None of these patents, however, is concerned with the use of a hinged metal web having connector nail plates at the end portions thereof for joining two elongated wooden members which are arranged so as to extend parallel to each other with a spacing therebetween, thus forming a truss or joist assembly.